Propane at KCBS contests

[Mustang Sally]

I can see pros and cons. But at the end of the day my vote would be NO propane. If we do allow propane then open it up to electric and everything else. Then let's just have a meat contest - becasue IMHO we couldn't call it BBQ.

[Alexa RnQ]

Originally Posted by NateOwsley

money should not be the end all for every situation.

Hear, hear.

Originally Posted by G$

Why is there no line in the sand in between "Hole in the ground" and "anything goes"?

I would say that there is -- it's the current rules.

KCBS has already made changes with the times to allow things like pellet cookers etc., and those changes are still a subject of continuous debate. Why heap on more changes that blur the line with backyard grilling, further confusing the core concept that this organization was intended to preserve?

I would far rather see KCBS fully utilize the potential of their current Competitor Series, set up expressly to allow entry-level contestants to participate on their existing equipment.

[FatBoyz]

Originally Posted by Plowboy

If propane is allowed, then can I use butane? I can 100% promise you that if gas is allowed, you'll see me crisping up my chicken skin or setting my sauce with a torch.

Smoked Chicken Brulee!!!!

oh yea that never happens now!!! right can you feel the sarcasum

[FatBoyz]

i have to say i dont want any electric alowed on cookers... no guru no fans nuthin... and i can say this because i used all of them. I do understand thay are a tool to help but i think that you dont need help... wood and charcoal... and your good to go...that being said i will be doind my chicken on my treiger this year lol...

[Yakfishingfool]

I just read through all this and thought I'd pop in my two cents. There are really two basic issues here. One financial and one traditional. In a time of ever decreasing membership and dues collection, KCBS has to look at expanding their base in order to continue to be successful as a business. Only they can decide if it is their mission or not to allow different fuel sources in and then we, as members, have to decide with our dollars whether we will continue to support that vision.

Tradition - change is always hard. Traditions are what keep cultures alive and families together. Think of the Jews over all those years of persecution and their continued existence and then think about your own family traditions around the holidays. Those are powerful feelings and are not without significant value, emotionally, and ultimately financially as we choose where to spend our money.

So what to do? Here are a couple of my thoughts. First, BBQ is about cooking. Traditionalists will say it is over an open flame, low and slow, modernists may say it is about the product and not the means. So let KCBS open it to alternative forms of combustion. Maybe to begin with we have two divisions. Non-electric/gas powered, such as traditional wood, coals and lump, and then an everything else section - gas, electric, pellet poopers, etc. And we keep them separate for a bit. Maybe having a 75/25 split in awards or split based on numbers in the division. 25 of each gets a 50/50 split of prizes, there will be more teams so maybe more $$. And as the "tradition" of split comps continues, maybe some day we can just put out the whole field and let the best food win. Just my two cents.

Personally, I think anything other than the wood/coal/lump is an advantage. Whether it's through sleep or timing or whatever.

Anybody can make good food, only a few are Pitmasters!

Yak

[Ford]

Originally Posted by Yakfishingfool

Anybody can make good food, only a few are Pitmasters!

Yak

There have been a lot of comments about "pitmasters" being people that can maintain a fire. So I'm not picking on this comment so much as asking all those who think being a "pitmaster" means cooking on charcoal or coal or wood.

By 10 years old I knew how to make a good clean burning campfire with lots of coals and very little smoke. Not for BBQ but just for pleasure. It's an art to learn how to maintain a clean burning wood fire, I agree. But I just don't see how it applies to charcoal or coal or using draft fans of chutes to add charcoal or anything like that.

I think it takes a lot more than building a fire to be a pitmaster. A pitmaster picks out the meat, trims it as needed, seasons it and cooks it and sauces it if necessary. A pitmaster teaches others how to do basics such as carving meat for serving as well. A true pitmaster is an artist and is judged on the final product and not how the food was cooked.

At the end of the day a pit is a pit. Nothing that says it's an offset, upright, Pellet fed, gas fed. Either a pit is a hole in the ground or it's all of the above. Now people can selectively choose to say they believe a pit should be wood burning (pellets are wood) or all manual (no gas assist, fans, chutes to feed the fire, etc.).

There's some good books out there that talk about the traditions of BBQ and every region has different traditions and definitions of what they think BBQ is. But nationally it's a combination of all different styles and as we continue to progress BBQ cooking will continue to evolve. Eventually the carbon police will outlaw open fires and we'll all be using gas and even then with restrictions. And our Tofu will taste so great. Adds new meaning to "my cold dead hands" doesn't it.

[tmcmaster]

I would like to offer that the same logic thread that can get from "back to basics" to "Hole in the ground" also extends the other way from "It's about the product, not the process" to "Just buy it and turn it in."

I'll be in the peanlty box now.

[falldownbbq]

Originally Posted by OC PIG ASSASSINS

I will proudly say that I can kick ass with a FEC or charcoal and wood. The cooker is not the answer, it is the cook.

was it you guys or was it not that i followed on the NE circuit and got has a helluva a year cooking on a spice?

how is it that a team can cook on an FE a Spice (with no stoker joker) or a side box char griller and still win consistantly?

do what you want... unless you burn it or send pork in raw there is no cooker that is giong to change anything other then make the people piling on wood and coal at 3amm and being jealous of someone sitting inside of their trailer/motorhome sleeping..

you wanna change and make it faster hi temp cook.. then you wont be jealous of someone who can set it and forget it.!

[Jeff_in_KC]

Originally Posted by FatBoyz

oh yea that never happens now!!! right can you feel the sarcasum

If it's allowed, I'm gonna use it not to crisp skins but to help soften and remove fat from the back of my chicken skins before they go on the cooker.

[Divemaster]

Originally Posted by Gene01

as an FYI, many of the board members do look at the forums on a reguar basis, they may not post often, they do want to stay in touch with what members think, I am not sure how this or any other rule vote may go, we will see...... some people think that we the board make up the agenda item rule requests, these are all from the membership, we just vote for or against what is presented to us... Linda Mulane collected this information from KCBS members at the rules meeting last month....

Originally Posted by Jeff_in_KC

Approximately 70 out of 11,000+ members. Most not even cooks. That's crappier numbers than the voter turn-out.

I was at the 'Rules Meeting' at the banquet... If I recall the discussion on propane took less than 30 seconds... Probably closer to 15... Yes they took a 'vote'... It was voted down by the membership that was attending.

I feel that I can honestly say that if they passed this based on the 'information gathering' they did there, I won't be renewing my membership... Yet another showing of how little representation we actually get...

[PCDoctor_1979]

According to the quick notes on the KCBS site this morning, the board said "no" to propane by a vote of 8 to 3

[G$]

Originally Posted by PCDoctor_1979

According to the quick notes on the KCBS site this morning, the board said "no" to propane by a vote of 8 to 3

Looks like the "Save the petroleum hydrocarbons" campaign worked. (Sorry Todd).

[Plowboy]

Originally Posted by G$

Looks like the "Save the petroleum hydrocarbons" campaign worked. (Sorry Todd).

Better go return my creme brulee torch.

I was thinking this morning that if propane is ever allowed, you could see propane food warmers used to hold product as well as the torches. All would be legal based on the rule that was motioned and seconded.